READ ALLISON’S WORDS | allisonbrown

WRITINGS

Allison had a way with words, combining poetry and prose in sometimes scathingly humorous and always wise and soothing essays that spoke truth. Allison’s essays spanned a range of topics about education justice. In her last years on earth, she began to share deeply private and reflective essays about mortality, forgiveness, and self-realization.

I have seen nothing, done nothing, harder than this. It is re-defining me. I am re-building me. I have no other choice. Cancer has stripped me bare, rubbed me raw, and forced me, at 43 years old, to start my life again even as I stand face to face with my mortality. Find all of Allison’s essays here.

Despite laws to create equal education for all children, there has never been a system of education equally accessible to children of color as there is for white children. We must resist the very American tendency to look only at the individual student and blame them for an education system corrupted by history. Read more from a USA Today oped co-authored by Allison and Marlyn Tillman here.

Ensuring that the system of education in this country is safe, equitable, healthy, and nurturing for Black children has been my life’s work, and it is an uphill climb. Read Allison’s call to action to provide robust support for today’s Black-led movements here.